One Reason
by Super Klonoa
Summary: The climax of my older fic Dark Crystallis, with new elements thrown in... When all hope appears to be lost, Klonoa has no choice but to pull out his final desperate card: transform into Super Klonoa. This is his soul on display. A soul of the wind...


_Give me one reason to take the breath we breathe for granted  
__Hold it in so long that you forget to say  
__Give me one reason to remain confined within the fences  
__Here with you and my soul on display..._

~5OUL ON D!SPLAY, Gran Turismo 5

X.X.X.X.X.X

(I didn't put this in the Sonic & Klonoa crossover category because, other than a few obvious Sonic elements, this is still a Klonoa-centric story, with a clone of Klonoa himself,  
Mephiles, acting as the main antagonist.)

(Author's note from deviantART:

...eh, guess I shouldn't have deleted this off of DA in the first place... Compared to, well, ALL of my fics that featured him, this remains my best and most epic Super Klonoa work ever, in terms of...well, badassery.

A few obvious cliches in here, though, such as blatant DBZ-ness and other stuff. But hey, everything displayed in the media these days is a cliché anyway. So who the hell cares? Especially since SK himself is a tribute/inspired by/borrowing/whatever, to and of the Super Saiyans from DBZ.

This particular scene is from my third major fic in the now-defunct Sonic Star universe, "Dark Crystallis," in which Mephiles the Dark invades the dream world of Lunatea. Because of this new threat, Klonoa, the Dream Traveler, is summoned to Lunatea in order to combat it. Tasked with collecting all of the Elements, Klonoa and his friends travel all over the world to get them, with Leorina, as Mephiles' puppet, in their way.

Eventually, Klonoa ends up getting tricked, and all of the Elements fall into the hands of Mephiles, now a dark green-clothed clone of Klonoa himself. The final battle then culminates, eventually leading into the scene you're about to read below.

Since this took place in the SS universe, Klonoa already has his Super form readily available to him. But he decides not to use it unless things look bleak for him. He also gets his blue clothes back because he wore them for most of his dream traveling in his life. He doesn't need them, he said, but he decides to keep them on until after the threat is gone.

The scene you're about to read now takes place on a lone large platform situated in the Forgotten Path, which was the area Klonoa traversed in order to get to the King of Sorrow in the game. Mephiles is in his crystallic form, leaving only his green clothes on. He has just summoned a bunch of clones of himself to get rid of the Dream Traveler, who previously left a mere scratch on the dark one...and that was due to his strongest move, the Thunder Hurricane.

And all Klonoa's friends could do is stand there on the platform and watch...

Is this the end for Klonoa? Not if his Chaos Emerald energy has to say anything about it!

Since this is split off from the original fic, I want you to treat this as a separate story instead, as there'll be some edits and additions that you may recognize from the SKU universe. And a title change.

To save the world and why he's gotta save it, all Super Klonoa needs is...)

X.X.X.X.X.X

"One Reason"

X.X.X.X.X.X

Lunatea, Forgotten Path

As the ten clones of Mephiles hovered above the ground, Klonoa stood there, grunting and growling a lot in desperation. If he couldn't damage Mephiles earlier, how could he destroy these clones of his?

That thought alone...repeating itself over and over in his head...was making him want to use the one final option that was left for him now. He promised himself not to use it unless things were overwhelming...unless the situation looks bleak. But things are already looking bleak for him now...even moreso than what happened at Joilant...

With no other options left, it was either it, or let Lunatea fall.

With that thought, Klonoa forcibly closed his eyes and gritted his teeth even harder... His fist and grip on his Saber became even more tighter.

Mephiles noticed his increase in anger.

"What? Can't accept the fact that this looks hopeless for you? That you cannot save this pathetic little dream world from me? Hmhmhm... Honestly, you are such a fool, Klonoa... You should have learned from our encounter in Volk that the odds are against you...and yet, here you are, trying to stop me from destroying this world. You should have known better...

"Ah well, mistakes are mistakes." he continued. "By making them, you just officially signed your death wish. Now I'll have the pleasure of killing you myself... Well, then, suffer!"

The clones flew off towards Klonoa, ready to strike. Feeling them and hearing them coming, surprising him, he quickly opened his eyes and tried to shield himself with his Saber, putting it in front of him in a diagonal position. The first clone out in front quickly saw him, and as it got to him, the clone knocked his Saber away from him with one hand and quickly punched him away with the other, knocking Klonoa's hat off in the process.

"Aaaggh!"

As he was still in the air, one of the clones quickly went to behind him and kicked him forwards, knocking him back to the rest of the clones. Still flying, all of the clones then surrounded him and let loose a long flurry of strong punches and kicks on him, hurting Klonoa severely.

"...wow, he's getting beat up!" exclaimed Popka.

"Klonoaaaa!" yelled Lolo, scared at the sight of him suffering.

The attacks continued, until Klonoa was knocked away again with a strong punch... He hit the floor, rolling on it and stopping face-flat, slightly sliding a bit.

"Ugggh...ohhh..."

Before he made even a slight movement, the clones quickly surrounded him again... A second later, pushing himself up with his gloved hands, he slowly stood back up, stumbling a bit, leaning forward and breathing heavily. Thanks to them, his own blue clothes now had several small holes in them.

"...why...you..."

From ahead, Mephiles chuckled. As he did, the clones all aimed at him with their hands.

"Huh...?" noticed Klonoa, looking around at them.

Then, one of them fired a small, but strong dark energy ball at him, exploding on him and knocking him slightly over, making him yelp in pain... Then, another clone fired at him...and another...and another. At a pace, the clones kept on firing on him, and damaging him just as hard as before.

"Aah! Aagh! Aaaghh!"

After a while of yelping in pain and getting hit, Klonoa grew dizzy...and soon, stumbling a bit, he fell down to the floor face-flat again.

"...ohhh..."

"...hu ha ha ha ha haaa...! Had enough?" asked Mephiles, with an evilly happy look on his face. "Now you truly know the meaning of pain."

"...no... Klonoa..." said Lolo, looking extremely worried.

"Is this...the end?" asked Popka.

Just then...

"...uh!"

...Tat suddenly remembered something, looking wide-eyed. She then looked at the downed long-eared cat.

"Klonoa...! His...!"

"Hmhmhmhmhmmm... And so, we witness the last moments of the Dream Traveler's life." said Mephiles.. "It has been said that he has saved this world so many times before, as well as many other worlds...! But unfortunately, this winning streak of his is about to be...broken."

A second later, Klonoa slowly struggled to push himself up with his hands and stayed there. His eyes were closed, and he was breathing more heavily than before. His whole entire body was in severe pain, thanks to them.

Staring at him with a neutral look now, the dark one floated upwards high in the air, and stopped, aiming his right hand at him.

"You truly are a fool, Klonoa, walking into your graveyard like this... Hm... It's been a pleasure dealing with you, Dream Traveler, but I must end this if I am to break out of the cursed Scepter of Darkness... Now then..."

He and his clones all formed a very large energy ball at him.

"...say good night, Klonoa the Ca-"

"Klonoaaa! Use your Super form noooow!" yelled Tat, loudly, with her claws next to her mouth at both sides.

"Hm?"

Mephiles, Lolo, and Popka all heard and looked at her. Klonoa swiftly opened his eyes widely, with his mouth a bit open.

"Uh...!"

Hearing her...he realized that he had to quit delaying...or else.

After a second, Klonoa forcibly closed his eyes and gritted his teeth hard, lowering his head as well. And soon, he shook. Furiously.

"You... What did you just say? A Super form...?" asked Mephiles, looking at her. "...huh?"

The dark one suddenly sensed something coming from Klonoa, making him look.

"Grrrrrr...yaaaaaaah!"

To his great surprise, Mephiles' clones were all suddenly knocked away far by an invisible force that Klonoa suddenly emitted with that scream. They all regained and looked.

From the floor, the long-eared cat slowly floated himself upright, now hovering above the ground and looking down in a very angry way. Energy winds were now constantly emitting from him, making his long ears move wildly with them.

"Whoa, look at Klonoa! He's floating like the rest of 'em!" exclaimed Popka.

"Yeah!" Tat exclaimed. "And what great winds he's giving off!"

After a second, Klonoa swiftly looked up at the dark one above, gritting his teeth at him.

"...what is the meaning of this? Why do I sense great power from him?" asked Mephiles, staring at him with his hand down.

"...Mephiles... You...you were right..." said Klonoa. "I really am a fool as you say... But, NOT because of the fact that I'm trying to save the world like you seem to think... I'm a fool because...I promised myself not to use this unless evil creeps like you are on the verge of winning... If I had used this from the start, from the very beginning, from the very moment that I entered this world...you and your minions would be totally outclassed by me, on our first encounter... Well, no longer will I make a stupid promise like that anymore! Grrr...!"

With that growl and as he swiftly brought up his clenched fists, his energy winds grew even more stronger. The ground beneath him suddenly made a small crater out of itself, and from it, cracks spreaded around it, with some of them going towards his friends. Lolo and Popka stumbled a bit when the cracks reached them.

"Wh-whoa! What's happening to him?" asked Popka.

"I-I don't know!" replied the girl.

Then, a second later, pieces of the ground started floating upwards all around Klonoa... The long-eared cat's bangs suddenly spiked up, growing longer a bit. A shine of light went across his eye pupils, turning his irises from yellow to dark blue...and his blue clothes were moving wildly with the winds.

"Now you finally forced me to use it, you creep!" exclaimed Klonoa, angrily. "I've said it before, and I'll say it again: do you honestly think you can win here? When all the other bad guys in the past have failed? Face it! You're NOT the first person to try! ...you CAN'T win! I WON'T let yooou! ...grrr...you will not defeat me here like you think you will... You will not destroy this world...or my world, either! Grrrr!"

Seeing and sensing him, Mephiles was shocked, with his eyes wide open.

"Uh...! Your...power...your energy...keeps growing...! So its true... There IS something strange about you...as I've sensed before! You really are more than what meets the eye!"

"...oh, so you did sense it, huh? Well, you should've expected it coming! But it looks like you didn't... Sorry, but it looks like YOUR end is near, Mephiles! You've brought this upon yourself, and now you must pay for it here!"

The cat looked down at the ground, reminiscing of the dark one's evil deeds. The thoughts of them made him even more angry.

"...the destruction you've caused here in Lunatea, just to get the Elements... The people that you've hurt so much...!"

The cat forcibly closed his eyes. With his power summoned to the max, feeling it all over him, Klonoa was ready to do it.

"...I won't forgive you for that! ...grrrrrrrrrrr..."

Growling loudly, shaking wildly as well, he brought his fists up to his face... As he swiftly brought his fists all the way down and greatly moved his body forward...the long-eared cat then, finally, let loose one huge angry scream, to the black void sky above...

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

The second after he started screaming, Klonoa's black fur instantly bursted into a golden yellow color, and a great blazing golden aura, in the shape of a flame, engulfed and surrounded him. At the same time, down from the top, his blue shirt suddenly blew off into complete shreds, disintegrating into nothing except for the large zipper which flew away from him. The shirt was completely gone, revealing nothing but his golden yellow fur on his upper body. Then, up from the bottom, his blue shorts suddenly turned into complete shreds as well, also disintegrating into nothing, and now revealing the entirety of his now naked-but-furred, transformed body.

As he stopped screaming and gritted his teeth, the speed of his aura slowed down but stayed there, no longer emitting energy winds. The sound of his aura can now be heard: that of a constant "sweep-sweep-sweep" sound... The rocks around him dropped to the ground.

After a few seconds, he slowly lowered his head and made a frown instead of gritting his teeth. As he lowered his fists all the way, he opened his dark blue eyes, looking extremely determined at ahead instead of Mephiles, with his eye shape now slanted and pointy in the corners.

Klonoa's friends and Mephiles all stared at him with shock and awe on their faces. Indeed, the Dream Traveler had suddenly went from a black-and-white long-eared cat, into a golden-yellow-and-white hero bristling with great power...

The golden cat soon slowly floated out of the small crater and landed on solid ground. His blazing aura soon faded away, and he stood straight and tall.

With his golden yellow fur, dark blue eyes, long, spiky bangs, and with his blue clothes completely gone, leaving him naked-but-furry with just his gloves and shoes...he now stood there as Super Klonoa.

Now that they witnessed it all, his friends were completely in awe at the transformed Klonoa and the power that he just displayed.

"...w-w-wooow! Talk about being all yellowy!" exclaimed Popka.

"Yeah! And the...power! The...aura that was just around him now..." said Tat. "So THIS is his Super form, huh? Wow...he looks just as awesome as he said before!"

"Ya!"

Lolo just stood there, looking at the golden cat.

"...Super Klonoa..."

Looking down, Klonoa brought up his hands and looked at them.

'...man...it's great to be Super again...after not using it for so long.' he thought. 'I definitely won't make that stupid promise again...'

"...hey, where did his clothes go? He's...naked now!" exclaimed Popka, looking closely.

"...oh yeah, that's right! When he transformed, his clothes just suddenly turned into shreds..." said Tat.

"Ya! All that's left on him are his gloves and shoes now..."

Hearing them, Klonoa lowered his hands.

"I don't need those clothes anymore, you guys." he said. "Remember what I said about that I've been keeping another secret from you guys? That you'll find out what it is when I transform? Well, this is it... I'll explain more after I beat this creep."

"Oh... Alright, then." said Tat. "It's surprising that your clothes are suddenly gone like that, though!"

The golden cat looked at his still-active Wind Saber and his hat on the ground.

From above, Mephiles was still in shock at him.

"What...what is this? What is this golden form that you are in? Your power is...is...tremendous!"

Klonoa put both of his hands forward. Then, after a second, using his power, his hat and Saber started floating Then, they flew right back into Klonoa's hands, grabbing them.

"For now, though..." he said, putting his hat back on. "Let's just say that, being like this with no clothes on..."

He aimed his hand at the Saber hilt's green gem. It glowed bright blue, and out came out his red collar with a metallic buckle on it.

"...is way better than wearing them at all, or any clothes on for that matter...as I learned from Sonic two months ago. Besides, if the King of Sorrow can go on wearing nothing at all, then so can I."

The collar floated up to his neck, wrapping itself around it and buckling up on the front afterwards. The gem's glow died down, and he lowered his hand.

"Plus, wearing those clothes would hide most of my golden yellow fur, anyway... Right, you guys?"

"...I see now..." said Tat, blinking her eyes in amazement. She then smiled happily. "Yeah! You DO look better in Super form like that!"

"Ya, I agree!" exclaimed Popka.

Lolo smiled.

"Definitely..."

"Hm." nodded Klonoa.

Still determined and frowning, he looked up at the dark one above, who was still shocked.

"What's wrong, Mephiles? Scared? You brought this on yourself, remember?"

Finally snapping out of it, shaking his head, Mephiles grew angry at him.

"Alright, I admit. You certainly surprised me with your sudden golden transformation, Klonoa...or Super Klonoa, as you now are and as they call you... Honestly, I do not know how you managed to hide this 'Super form' away from me, even though I sensed that you were more than meets the eye... When I did sense it before, I feared that, with you around, all of my plans would go to waste, and I would never be able to break free from the Scepter."

"Hm... Well, I'd say its already looking that way, Mephiles. You will definitely never escape from it." said Klonoa.

"So you say... Baaah! ...so tell me, Dream Traveler. This golden, yellow, whatever...Super form of yours... Was it how you managed to save those dream worlds in the past, including this one?"

"No... I only obtained this form recently, elsewhere. I only saved those worlds by just using my normal wind energy. This is actually the first time that I used my Super form in a dream world like this. I gotta admit... If certain events didn't happen that led to me getting this power two weeks ago, then you would've definitely won here...and Lunatea would've been destroyed. But they did happen, and I'm thankful they did... So it seems to me that you simply picked the wrong time to come here. Tough luck for you, Mephiles."

"...hmph... First time in this...new...form of yours, huh...? So be it, then... Even if I picked the wrong timeframe, like how you felt a while ago before you transformed, I will not stop here as well... All the Elements are still in my possession. Now it's a matter of getting rid of you, Super or not."

From where they were, the ten Mephiles clones closed in on Klonoa, surrounding him again, as he noticed.

"Your energy may have gotten stronger, but sometimes, energy readings can be false. A bluff, even." said the dark one. "You also certainly look tougher than before, what with your different appearance and your...aura before. But, let's just see how tough you actually are, Super Klonoa."

After looking at them, the golden long-eared cat looked ahead, narrowing his eyes and forming an even-more-determined look.

"As you wish, Mephiles the Dark."

Klonoa began to float upwards from the ground, then he flew upwards and stopped. The clones followed suit.

"Whoa, he can fly?" asked Popka.

"So...you can take flight as well in this form..." said Mephiles.

"Yeah, I can... Hm." replied Klonoa. "Well, are you gonna start this or not?"

Just then, the clones went into their stances, preparing to attack.

"Does it look like I'm starting?" asked the dark one.

Without warning, the clones quickly went straight for Klonoa. But as one of them tried to hit him, he noticed and quickly disappeared out of the way, avoiding it.

"Huh?"

Mephiles saw him disappear. He and his clones then looked around for him.

"Huh? Where'd he go?" asked Tat.

The dark one continued to search...then...

"...hmm?"

...he sensed him to his right, behind one of his clones. To his great surprise, Klonoa reappeared behind that clone and quickly sliced it sideways in two with his Saber. The sliced halves instantly exploded into black smoke that soon faded away.

"...whaaaat?"

Mephiles didn't believe what he just saw... When normal Klonoa didn't even land a damaging hit on him before...now one of his clones was instantly vanquished by Super Klonoa!

The golden cat went out of his finishing stance and floated upright, looking at Mephiles.

"Not so tough, huh? Think again."

The crystallic one went out of his shocked look and made a loud growl at him. The clones suddenly went straight for Klonoa again.

As they surrounded him and tried to unleash their attack flurries on him, he quickly dodged all of them at the same fast speed. After a bit, he interrupted them by releasing a great invisible energy wave from his thrusting empty hand that knocked them all away. After they stopped in mid-air, Klonoa flew, with great speed, to the nearest clone and proceeded to slice it vertically in two. The clone was knocked away, splitting apart and exploding into black smoke afterwards.

Before they could even react, the golden Super cat went to three more of them and slashed each of them away, destroying them in the process as well. Out of the ten clones that were made, only five were left now.

"...nggh!" grunted Mephiles in shock. "...graaah!"

With that angry shout, the five remaining clones lined up next to each other. They all aimed their hands directly at Klonoa. He faced them, preparing.

As large dark energy balls were formed, they all fired at him at a constant rate, shooting one after each. He let them explode on him, knowing that they weren't going to hurt him at all.

The explosions and firing continued, building up a huge cloud of smoke around their target. After a while, they stopped. As the dark one stared at the cloud...

'...impossible... I can still sense him! His energy hasn't decreased one bit!' he thought.

The smoke soon faded away...and Klonoa still floated there, still in the same expression.

"...wow, those energy blasts didn't even hurt him one bit!" exclaimed Tat.

"Ya think he's invincible now?" asked Popka.

"Maybe he is!"

The dark one stared at him, angry.

"...nggh!"

Still frowning...after a few seconds, Klonoa made a smile at him.

"Nice try... Do you know I can do that, too?"

"...what? Huh?"

The golden Super cat aimed his empty hand at the group of clones. A very large yellow energy ball appeared, surprising everyone as they saw it... He shot it directly at one of the clones, heading swiftly for it.

The ball impacted and exploded on the clone, instantly vanquishing it, and knocking away all the others. With them still flying, Klonoa teleported to and destroyed three of them with the Saber, each at a time, and destroying the last of the three with a swiping right kick.

Afterwards, he floated upright, looking behind at the last clone, smiling at it. Seeing him, the clone became fearful of him, slowly backing up away from him...and then quickly turning around and flying away fast.

It thought it got away from him...but to its shock and dismay, Klonoa teleported to and appeared right in front of it!

Smiling at and half-facing it, the Super cat placed his hand near the clone's shocked face...and after a second, he unleashed a huge, yellow energy beam on it, completely engulfing and destroying it.

"Whooooaaa!" exclaimed Tat, surprised at the sudden beam of light.

The beam faded, and the last of the clones was gone... Klonoa now fixed his determined gaze on Mephiles himself, who was both shocked and angry.

The long-eared Super cat flew over to him and stopped a few feet in front.

"As creepy as they were to me, the mirrors have shattered, Mephiles." said Klonoa, still smiling. "Now it's just you alone."

"...urgh! ...but...how... They...were... You...little...!"

"Too shocked to even talk right, huh? Hm. Again, you pretty much forced this on yourself. If you knew I was more than what I was from the outside before in the first place, then, well, you shouldn't have continued. You should've stopped, really... But you risked it anyway, and ran right into my Super form."

After a few seconds, Mephiles calmed himself down.

"...were you not the same, Klonoa?" he asked. "You yourself took risks as well... By not using your new power from the beginning as you say, you had to endure through many hardships. Had to endure through crippling pain as well..."

"Yeah, I might have took risks as well... Honestly, I thought I could save this world by doing things the normal way...but you just had to prove me wrong... Well now, look at where it all ended up... It's ironic if you ask me."

"...quite ironic, indeed... Ugh."

"Hm... Well..."

The golden cat's smile turned back into the determined frown. With that, he suddenly powered up, with the blazing, golden flame aura around him, catching the attention of the dark one and his friends, along with its energy sound. The aura also moved his ears along with it.

"...time to finish you off, Mephiles. Once, and for allll!"

Klonoa blasted off to him in great speed, with his aura trailing behind him. Getting to his target, he let loose a long, furious flurry of strong Saber attacks on Mephiles, heavily damaging him one by one. The cat then punched him away hard with his unarmed fist, flying to him in pursuit afterwards.

Mephiles quickly regained and tried to throw a large, dark energy ball at Klonoa. It exploded largely on him, but he quickly flew out of the smoke, unaffected. The cat then started another strong Saber flurry on the dark one, damaging him just as hard as before.

"Wow, he's really teaching that creep a lesson..." said Tat.

"Go, Klonoa! Keep it up!" Lolo cheered on, jumping happily as well.

Stopping the flurry, Klonoa heavily slashed him away. With the dark one sent flying, the golden Super cat conjured up a very large, yellow energy ball and threw it at him. It impacted, making a huge explosion afterwards, pulsing with much more energy than what Mephiles threw at him.

The huge light of the explosion illuminated the entire area, emitting great energy winds that shook his friends below, shielding themselves from it. The light soon faded...and the resulting smoke disappeared after a while.

Mephiles still floated...but he was now heavily damaged, with his body drooping forward. His green clothes were completely gone, leaving him with just his bare, rough, rock-textured body. The tips of his crystallic hands, feet, and long ears were dripping black liquid from them.

"Still there, huh? But you're dripping liquid...and that's a good thing, really." said Klonoa, with his aura still around him.

"...no...this...cannot be..." said Mephiles, calmly. "I...have all the Elements...yet I...I'm...losing them..."

"Hm...? Huh?"

From his feet, the Elements of Tranquility, Joy, and Indecision came leaking through with the oozing liquid. They soon fell to the platform below.

"The Elements!" exclaimed Lolo.

"Uh! I'll catch them!" exclaimed Tat.

The floating, puppet-like cat quickly flew over and caught them, going back afterwards.

Klonoa smiled at this, then looked at Mephiles.

"So its finally over, huh? Too bad. From what you've done here, you definitely deserve to stay trapped in your prison forever! Now give us the last two Elements back!"

After a few seconds...

"No...I cannot stay...in the cursed...Scepter..." said Mephiles. "I long to reunite with...Iblis...! I long to return to the god we were! Solaris...I...must punish those for their sins! ...I must punish everyone! Grrrrrraaah!"

Suddenly, the dark one jerked from his drooping stance and gazed at Klonoa with wide open eyes. The Elements of Discord and Sorrow shot themselves from out of him and now circled him constantly, glowing brightly.

"What?" Klonoa saw them, looking a bit shocked.

"No...it's over when I say it's overrrrrr!"

With that angry yell, Mephiles suddenly flew up to the black sky above. Stopping, he crossed his arms in an "X" position, shaking wildly, and moved them away. With the power of Sorrow and Discord coursing through him, he suddenly created not just ten clones of him, but hundreds and hundreds of them, spreading all throughout the portion of the sky that he was in.

"What the...? Grrr!"

Klonoa saw the massive clone horde in the sky, growling at them.

"Ha ha ha ha ha haaa! So it's true! Emotions DO equal power when it comes to the Elements!" exclaimed Mephiles.

"Oh no! He used the Elements' power!" exclaimed Lolo, with a worried look on her face.

"That creep! Using Sorrow and Discord like that to create an army of clones!" exclaimed Tat, looking mad.

"Cheap, sore loser!" exclaimed Popka, looking mad as well.

"Well, do you like what you see, Dream Traveler?" asked the dark one. "To see hundreds of yourself in the sky above, ready to destroy you? Ha! Even if you could take them on, it will take you a while just to defeat them all!"

Still growling...with his aura disappearing a few seconds later, Klonoa went back to his frown and closed his eyes, lowering his head as well... He then suddenly dropped his still-active Saber down to the platform below, hitting the ground with a loud clank.

"Huh? Don't tell me ya giving up already, Klonoa!" exclaimed Popka, surprised.

"Yeah! You can still do this!" exclaimed Tat.

Mephiles noticed him.

"What's the matter, Super Klonoa? Overwhelmed already?" he sarcastically asked. "Ha! Now you truly know how I felt when you vanquished them before."

"...you're wrong, Mephiles." said Klonoa.

"Huh?"

"I don't feel overwhelmed by your little army there... You've yet to know the real power of my Super form here, you creep..."

"What...? Real power? ...huh?"

Suddenly, Mephiles sensed that Klonoa's already-tremendous power was growing even more.

"...no... Impossible! He's growing even stronger..."

Klonoa swiftly opened his now-glowing blue eyes, gritting his teeth as well. And with that, his own red collar suddenly began to grow bright white.

"No matter how hard you try, Mephiles...grrrr...! I will never allow you to wiiiiiiiiiin!"

With that scream, Klonoa's Chaos energy bursted wildly within him, and suddenly, his golden yellow fur exploded into a deep, bright glow that had an upwards melting effect to it. At the same time, a huge energy wave suddenly emitted from him, shaking the entire area around him including the platform. And also at the same time, his brightly-glowing collar had also changed into a majestic, dark blue collar scarf that resembled the King of Sorrow's; two long scarves appeared from the back, extending past his feet a bit, and with glowing golden outlines around them.

"Wh-whoooa!" Popka stumbled around.

His friends regained their footing from the shockwave, and looked, with great awe on their faces. Lolo gasped at the sight of him.

"He's...glowing all over...! Ah...!"

"Woooow... Talk about being a lightbulb..." said Popka.

"You...said it...Popka..." added Tat. "...and look, he has something new on his neck now!"

Mephiles stared at him in shock, once again... The long-eared cat, in his true Super form, floated there in deep determination. He brought up his clenched fists, and as he did, his glows suddenly sped up, and white sparkles now constantly emitted upwards from all around him. Along with them, his long ears and collar scarves began to move wildly as well.

"No more tricks from you, Mephiles! This. Ends. Here. Nooooooow!"

The great, golden yellow-glowing, Super cat blasted off towards the horde of clones above, in blazing speed and with sparkles trailing from behind him. Halfway through, a yellow energy sphere completely surrounded him, turning him into a ball of light.

"...nggh!"

Seeing and pointing at him, Mephiles sent all of his massive clone army to try and stop him. But when the first few of them got to him, they were instantly destroyed on contact with the sphere!

Klonoa plowed through the horde like a shooting star, going all over the place and destroying any who got in his way... Soon enough, even though there were a lot of them, he made quick work of them all.

Still bathed in the sphere of light, he soon stopped right in front of Mephiles himself. Seeing Klonoa's glowing blue eyes within, the dark one shook constantly in fright. He was truly scared of him now.

Deciding to finish him off, the Super cat blasted off towards him and went past him slightly, hitting him with his sphere and damaging him severely. Then, he did it again from behind him, damaging the dark one even more.

After hitting him five times, the two Elements floating around him stopped glowing and fell down to the platform below. He drooped forward...and the liquid resumed leaking through him.

Tat caught the last two Elements and looked up.

"Man, not even an army of them could stop Klonoa. He just went through them all like it was nothing!"

"Ya!" nodded Popka.

Lolo smiled with awe on her face.

The sphere around Klonoa faded away, and he floated in front of Mephiles a few feet away, still glowing ever brightly with sparkles around him... The dark one was leaking even more liquid from his body, and soon, pieces of him began to slowly fall off of him.

"...agh...I'm...falling apart... I cannot...accept this... Even with two of the Elements...you still managed...to...to..."

"...wipe out your army and beat you. That's right." Klonoa said, smiling.

"...I should've...known that you were able to...power up...even...further."

"Yep. The true state of my Super form. The form at it's full power."

"...ugggh..."

"...hmph... You're through, Mephiles."

Klonoa put his right hand out. After a second, the Wind Saber from the platform came right back into his hand, grabbing it. He deactivated it and turned it back into the Wind Ring.

Then, he put his left hand out, towards his friends, looking at them below. To Tat's surprise, all five Elements came out of her arms and floated up to Klonoa above. He brought them up and looked.

Mephiles noticed them. The Super cat aimed his Ring at them. Both the green gem and the Elements glowed brightly... As the Elements suddenly merged into each other, creating one large orb of white light, the orb then went straight into the gem.

The Wind Ring was now infused with their power; its gem letting out lights of the five colors of them. All of the lights were rotating around like a fan.

With them in, still smiling, Klonoa raised the Ring up to the sky, and then swiftly pointed it at Mephiles, with one hand holding his aiming arm.

"You... What are you doing?" asked the dark one, alarmed.

"Waking you up from this dream world, that's what... You said you used your subconsciousness to enter Lunatea, right? Well, that's pretty much the same as sleeping, really... I'm doing this not just for the people you've hurt, but for all of Lunatea...and for all of Earth as well! So if you EVER try to come back to this world again, I will be here to stop you again as well! And..."

Klonoa's smile turned into a frown.

"...if you ever escape from the Scepter of Darkness in the future, not only will I be there to stop you, but my best friend will be as well. He, too, has the same Super form as I have...and together, we WILL defeat you in order to save the world from you!"

The dark one stared at him, saying nothing in response.

"Now...time to wake up, Mephiles the Dark! Don't you ever come back here again! ...Elemental Baniiish!"

With that yell, Klonoa shot out a huge, multicolored energy ball at him from his Ring. Reaching its target, instead of making a huge explosion, the ball engulfed him entirely, dealing excruciating pain to him that made him yelp.

"...ngh...!"

With the ball still there engulfing him, a huge, white portal of light appeared from above... The ball faded away...and soon, his already-dismantling body was breaking apart even more, with the fragments going upwards to the portal above.

"...so...this is my fate. I...will never be to reunite with Iblis..." he said, his voice cracking up majorly. "Truly a shame...this...is..."

Klonoa and his friends all watched as the majority of Mephiles' body and being became split apart from the whole; his eyes, face, ears, arms, legs... Everything, turning into black liquid as they went upwards to the portal.

Soon, the leader of the crystallic horde that terrorized Lunatea...was now gone...back to his prison on Earth. The portal closed in.

"...whew, that creep's finally gone..." said Tat, relieved.

"Ya. All thanks to Klonoa, no less. He's saved the world again." said Popka.

"Yes...but...he saved Lunatea just a little bit differently this time." said Lolo, smiling.

The lights emitting from the Wind Ring, and the sparkles around him, have dimmed, but Klonoa's fur was still glowing brightly. He turned around, looking down and smiling at his friends, and descended towards them.

They all watched him land right in front of them, basking in the glory of his glows. His ears and scarves remained stationary.

"Great job, Klonoa. You really taught that creep a lesson." said Tat. "And gosh...your glows... They're..."

"...beautiful." said Klonoa, looking at himself all over. "Beautiful, and awesome."

"Yeah!"

"Hehe... Beautiful is right." said Lolo.

"Heh...and I thought Sonic was awesome in his Super form at full power. Now I got people thinking and saying the same about me." Klonoa said.

The long-eared cat powered down, but stayed Super, and his collar scarf was still there.

"Ya were spot-on, Klonoa." Popka said. "Ya said ya own Super appearance would be ya last surprise...well, one of them... Ya definitely surprised us big-time!"

"Yeah! I mean, look at you." Tat said. " Golden fur, blue eyes..."

She floated over to his bangs and touched them.

"...and spiky hair. I like spiky hair! ...ooh, they stay spiky even after you push them back down..."

"Yeah, they stay that way unless I revert back to normal." Klonoa said.

She floated back near Lolo.

"Does Super Sonic look the same way as you do?" asked Lolo.

"Yep. Same golden fur, same spiky hair...or quills, rather. But he has red eyes instead of blue, which looks just as cool."

"Red, huh?" Tat said.

"Yep."

"And...ya other surprise, Klonoa." Popka said. "I really didn't think ya would bust out of ya clothes when ya transformed..."

"Yeah..." Klonoa said. He looked all over his own body. "To tell you the truth...I abandoned those blue clothes of mine two months ago."

"What? You did?" Tat asked.

"Yeah. I'll explain more later on... Huh?"

Just then, Klonoa noticed something: his tail.

"My tail... It's..."

"...larger?" Popka asked.

Unlike before and instead of its usual size, Klonoa's own tail had suddenly increased in size. It was now about one-fourth the size of the bases of his long ears. The black and white colors of it had also become more dominant than before.

"What...? But how did it get so big?" asked Klonoa, looking puzzled.

Looking at it, Tat was reminded of something, making her frown in a sad way.

"...ohh, you landed in that radiation puddle back in Volk! That's how!"

"What? That was a radiation puddle he landed in?" Lolo asked.

"Yeah! Volk is full of those puddles because of the wars going on. I should've warned you about that, Klonoa!"

The girl looked at Klonoa with a worried look.

"Klonoa, do you feel funny?"

"Uh, no... I don't feel anything." Klonoa replied, looking at her. "But I did feel kinda funny while we were at Mira Mira... I thought it was just the cold weather, honestly."

"...so you didn't feel any pain at all?"

"Nope... Really, I didn't think that was a radioactive puddle I landed in."

Tat blinked a few times at him. "Wow, you didn't fall sick, then... Just felt funny, and it just made your tail grow, huh?"

"I guess so..."

"A small dose of radiation like that would've made even a priestess fall sick for weeks." said Lolo, surprised. "But it's surprising that it just made your tail grow..."

"...maaan, ya tough, Klonoa... First ya Super form, and then ya resisting the radiation like that." Popka said.

"...yeah, what he said. You're strong, Klonoa." said the girl, smiling.

"Heh heh heh... Yep, I am." Klonoa said.

The long-eared cat looked back at his tail, smiling.

"It's a sudden change to see my tail grow like that. Yeah, it's definitely surprising... Besides, I think I like the bigger size of it. It actually fits more with me being like this with no clothes on...more like the cat that I am... No more short tail from now on."

Klonoa looked at them...then he noticed something on the ground to the right of them.

"Ah..."

The large zipper from his destroyed blue shirt laid on the ground next to them. With his left hand and his Chaos energy, he made it float up and over to his hand. He grabbed and looked at it.

"This thing's still in one piece. I thought it was destroyed with the rest of the clothes..."

He lowered his hand and looked at his friends.

"Like I said, I'll explain this whole no-clothes thing, as well as how I got this Super form in the first place, soon. For now, let's return the Elements back to their Bells and inform the High Priestess of Mephiles' defeat here."

"Right. Let's do that, first." said Lolo.

"...but, uh..." Tat looked around. "...how are we gonna get out of here, Klonoa?"

"Oh, he knows the way." said Lolo.

"Yeah. Get in the Ring, everyone." Klonoa said.

They all nodded. As the Ring's gem glowed blue, they all jumped in. The glow faded away.

Klonoa turned around and looked up ahead.

"Hey, Lolo, have you ever flown in the air before?"

"Once, on Leorina's ship... But not like what you're gonna do, Klonoa."

"Hehe. Not like this, huh? ...well, here I go..."

With that, he floated up from the ground, and flew off into the distance ahead...into the white light that led back to the Terminus of Tears.


End file.
